This book draws on a wide selection of interdisciplinary literature discussing complex adaptive systems - including scholarship from economics, political science, evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and religion - to apply general complexity tenets to the institutions, conceptual framework, and theoretical justifications of the copyright system, both in the United States and internationally. The author argues that copyrighted works are the products of complex creative systems and, consequently, designers of copyright regimes for the global 'information ecosystem' should look to complexity theory for guidance. Urging legal scholars to undertake empirical studies of real-world copyright systems, Tussey reveals how the selection of workable configurations for the copyright regime is larger than that encompassed by the traditional, entirely theoretical, debate between private property rights and the commons. Finally, this unique study articulates how copyright law must tolerate certain chaotic elements that may be essential to the sustainability of complex systems.
Contents: Introduction: a hitchhiker's guide to the information ecosystem; Are publishers really like prairies? Copyright systems as complex adaptive systems; A philosopher and a lobbyist walk into a bar: the theory and reality of copyright lawmaking; Systems analysis for the copyright ecosystem; Chaos, creativity, and copyright; Complexifying copyright law: a possible future for copyright lawmaking; Bibliography; Index.
About the Author: Deborah Tussey is a Professor at the Oklahoma City University School of Law, where her areas of specialty include international intellectual property law, copyright law, and computer law.
Reviews: 'Using easy-to-understand examples which range from Harry Potter to prairie fires, Debbie Tussey explains why copyright experts need to learn more about complex adaptive systems. This engaging, well-written and provocative book provides a timely reminder of the need for intellectual property law to be flexible enough to tolerate the chaos inherent in the creative process. Anybody who cares about the future of copyright should read this book!'
Peter K. Yu, Drake University Law School, USA and Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, China
'Professor Tussey's work provides an innovative way to look at copyright law, giving scholars and legislators alike a framework to consider legal questions in a highly volatile technological environment. Her use of empirical data and creative analogies helps the reader understand the copyright landscape we will have to regulate in the very near future.'
Julie Cromer Young, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, USA
